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he average retail price of diesel fuel in the United States rose 0.5 cent to $1.481 per gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Commercial trucking's dominant fuel had decreased a total of 2.6 cents over the prior three weeks and is now 7.6 cents higher than the corresponding week a year earlier.

The half-cent increase followed a decrease of 0.5 cent the week before. It also means truckers are paying an extra $1 than a week ago on a 200-gallon purchase at retail pumps.

DOE also said Monday the average price for regular unleaded gasoline fell 0.7 cents to $1.497 a gallon, the lowest level since $1.489 on July 7.

About one-third of commercial trucking uses gasoline. The decline was the 11th in the past 12 weeks.

In addition, the price of crude oil in New York fell on Monday from a three-month high on speculation that heating-oil supplies will meet demand and increasing unrest in the Middle East will not limit exports, Bloomberg reported.

rude oil for December delivery fell 64 cents to $31.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices rose to $32.37 on Friday, the highest closing price since Aug. 7.

The price of diesel rose by 1.7 cents to $1.596 along the West Coast grouping of states, but fell 0.2 cent to 1.465 in the Midwest, DOE said. The other parts of the nation reported increases of between 0.1 cent and 0.7 cent.

Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price of diesel.